Poe Festival
by Spiritual Stone
Summary: OS: This is completely unfair, honestly. Link, who's my unrequited crush, invites me to a festival, like a DATE, when he's already taken by sexy, confident Midna, who happens to be my sister. It's heavenly torture, but if it's time with Link, I'm in.


**Soooo... here's a one shot! And Sheik is a girl. **

**Those who like my stuff probably have noticed this, but i can't stop gender-swapping Link and/or Sheik. This is because I'm straight. Not that i have anything against people who aren't. It's just that, as a straight person, i don't think I would be able to write a love story involving two males as good as a usual girl-boy love story. ****I'd rather be safe in my writing endeavers. **

**And I just plainly like genderswapping these two characters, because, funnily enough, IT WORKS!!! XD**

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_**Poe Festival**_

There was a mug of steaming milk next to her, which she took a glad gulp from. She curled into her favourite purple sleeping bag and flipped immediately to the back of her book, to her favourite poem or song sung by her favourite character, and began,

"When that I was and a little tiny boy; with hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

A foolish thing was but a toy; for the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man's estate; with hey, ho, th-"

Sheik growled when the doorbell insisted to ring, and it was with suppressed irritation that she kicked out of her sleeping bag and left the couch to go for the front door, wondering who the hell had such a strong death wish that involved lots of stabbing from her pencil. Nobody interrupted her Saturday-night reading sessions. _Nobody_.

She flung the door open and was met with her damned exceptions. The elder sister Midna, and her boyfriend. Link.

"I'm so, _so_ sorry, Sheik," Midna slapped her palms together apologetically and gave a mock-wince, "I left my phone behind. I'll run and get it and I'll leave you alone, alright?"

"Yeah, sure," she kept her face angry in order to make her blush legitimate. The last thing she needed was for her sister to suspect what was really going through her head.

"Thanks, you're a sweet-heart," she gushed, and with a side-long look and a wink at the blonde boy, Midna bounded inside to look through her littered room for her cell-phone. Sheik sighed, her face still red as she waved Link inside, offering a drink as she went. Link declined with a polite albeit nervous grin, saying rather hurriedly that they'd be leaving soon.

"So… what're you reading today?" he asked out of politeness, or that was what Sheik presumed, and she shrugged in reply before telling him,

"Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare. We did it in High-school and I got nostalgic."

Link laughed in pleasant surprise. Sheik admitted to herself that it was pleasing. "Really? Gods, how can you stand the language?"

"I like figuring it out. It's arty." She internally slapped herself. Arty? How stupid could she get?

"I like it when they're adapted into movies," Link kindly saved her, "They're much easier to understand that way."

"I guess," Sheik smiled sheepishly, hoping she didn't sound too stupid, "And the physical comedy is a lot better on screen, huh."

Link nodded. "And the way they collaborate between modern and classic adaptations."

"I like them classic, to be honest."

He smiled at her. "I can imagine."

Sheik hesitated, not quite sure whether that was a good thing. She hoped it was. "Um… which one's your favourite? Or at least the one that you can resist tearing apart?"

Link laughed. "Nice save. And for me… The Tempest. It was the shortest, not to mention the easiest to understand; more so than Romeo and Juliet."

Sheik made a face. "That one is _so_ overrated."

Link grinned. "Don't like the idea of star-crossed lovers?"

"Don't like the idea of self-obsessed suicidal star-crossed lovers re-enacted every few months." She corrected him, and he opened his mouth as if to playfully counter her comment but they were interrupted with a loud wail from Midna's room, and they both jumped at its sudden randomness. "Midna?"

Sheik stumbled round the kitchen and was met by her sister that looked both devastated and ecstatic, who burst into a sudden passionate tirade, that went something like oh my Din you won't believe it it's Zelda's birthday party-dinner thing tonight and like nobody told me till now so I have to go and like buy a present and stuff and I need to take the car but _oh_ _I know_ you can look after Link for me you're like _so _much better at, well, stuff than me anyways and I gotta go if I don't want to be like late is that alright with you?

"Um… ah… sure…" Sheik replied with a puzzled frown as Midna seemed to faze out of existence, reappearing beside Link to give him a quick hug before the door slammed and there was no more Midna.

Link looked distinctly flustered, with his pink cheeks and incredulous blinking. "What just happened?"

"Midna happened." Sheik rolled her eyes, miffed with every single thing this situation demanded of her, "She's gapping for a b-day party or something. You know Zelda?"

Link gave a vague shrug. "I think Midna mentioned her in passing…"

"She's our cousin. Visiting Kakariko for the week, or something." The red-eyed girl struggled with herself for a moment, the wish to spend time with Link conflicting with the duty to keep her respectful distance as the girlfriend's sister.

Link solved the problem for her. "You ever heard of the Poe Festival?"

"The… what?"

"Poe Festival. It's this thing where people pay their respect to the dead by lighting lanterns and letting them go in the Zora River, but nowadays its more a festival to look at pretty lights and buy carnival food."

"Like Frostmas?"

"Yeah, basically."

"Is it on, like, _now_?"

"Yeah. You wanna go?"

Sheik was completely baffled. Why had she never heard of this festival? It sounded like fun. But… she hated herself when she forced herself to ask, "What about Midna? Won't she want to come too?"

"Well…" was his stalling response, "It's only on today, I think, and it'd be a bit too quiet for Midna's style, you know how particular she is about stuff. And… I wanted to spend some time with you too, for a change."

The girl fought that internal battle a little more, one side of her telling her that she really should decline, since this seemed all too much like a date, and she knew well enough how angry and possessive Midna can be. Oh she wouldn't be _jealous_, it wouldn't even occur to her to be jealous of Sheik, the gangly and shy younger sister that was prone to violent tendencies. But on the other hand it would be rude to decline, a double whammy after Midna's abrupt and unfair departure. It wasn't like it was _her_ that was hitting on him (not that anybody was hitting on anybody else), and she really had never heard of this festival… there was nothing wrong with being curious.

"Alright," she smiled and nodded, was about to take leave when she noticed what she was wearing.

She blushed heatedly at her pyjama top and sweatpants, and stammered a suggestion to help himself to a snack in the cupboard while she got changed. She scampered off, humiliated as Link called out his thanks.

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The way they met over a year ago was decidedly coincidental.

But they'd known each other for nearly seven years, if you wanted to go into technicalities. Midna had received a txt message on the school-bus-ride to the interschool tennis matches from somebody who claimed to have gotten her number off Ashei, a good friend of both Midna and Sheik, and his name was Link, we used to go to the same primary school, remember?

To which, of course, Midna promptly denied any knowledge.

But after a few tries and the mentioning of birthday parties involving laser guns, the memories clicked and Midna squealed and had immediately demanded to meet and 'catch up' with him. Sheik had tagged along as a shadowy sort of escort/chaperone/stalker to make sure Midna didn't get hurt in some way shape or form. She remembered Link too, because he had been, basically, the only boy that hadn't picked on her behind Midna's back for not being able to speak Hylian when she first arrived as a first grader.

Their parents had been divorced early, and in separation had taken a daughter each with them; Midna and mother to Hyrule, Sheik and father to Twirealm. When the father got re-married and the step-mom couldn't handle Sheik's ability to break things she couldn't even reach, the girl had been shipped back to Hyrule, and there she had stayed.

Sheik didn't remember much about primary except that she had been very gullible, had stayed in the library for much of her lunchtimes, and had hero-worshiped her bigger sister, brash and confident and unafraid of cooties, and the boy that Midna had hung out with sometimes, who had kind blue eyes and a friendly smile. He had been the one to suggest that she be used as a decoy for a prank against the Principal, and Sheik had been thrilled at being included.

She remembered feeling sad at his disappearance, and kicking a boy in the shin for tugging at her pigtails one too many times.

And now he was back, dating her sister.

God it had been _annoying_ listening to the catty chats about Midna 'hooking up' with the kindergarten sweet-heart, because it was not _hooking_ up, it was _catching_ up, that was _all it was_… at least, Sheik had thought. They hung out everywhere together, to the movies and clubs and birthday parties and paintball, and Sheik had determinedly wormed herself and her friends into these non-dates, but…

Now they were in University and Sheik was left behind in school. She felt tiny and immature next to them; felt like the third, useless and unnecessary wheel. It was even worse that Link had been _her_ unrequited childhood crush, and it had always been Midna, the confident, spirited, devastatingly beautiful girl that had enough guts to flirt and laugh and claim the attention that she deserved and demanded. She was the queen bee, and Furore help the girl or boy that dared defy her. How could her little sister ever compare?

Well, she tried to impress, at least.

Sheik picked out her best white sleeveless sequined shirt, and thick blue jeans that hugged her thighs. She draped a small pendant of red glass over her shirt, matching the studs in her ears and accentuating her eyes. Finally she donned her favourite blue Burberry coat, tied her hair into a loose ponytail and quickly brushed her teeth.

Checking the mirror and hoping she looked sophisticated and smart, Sheik grabbed the spare keys to the flat and her cell phone before whizzing back to where Link was waiting, greeted by a surprised noise.

"Is this appropriate for the festival?"

"Yeah, you look… nice… in that," he told her, grinning nervously as she nodded graciously at the compliment, "You make me look like a slob."

Sheik laughed at the tears in his jeans, almost like Midna. Only it was more teasing than mocking. "I bet you'll freeze by a minute."

"Don't worry, I have very thick skin."

"Where _is_ this festival held anyway?"

"Uni campus."

Ah. So that explained why she'd never heard of it. She asked him a quick question about Uni (not that she hadn't already killed at least eight of Midna's nine lives with all her Uni questions) and Link answered with detail about the whacky teachers, the stereotypes being true to form, the food, the courses, the whole stretch of buildings and campuses strewn around the city, the students…

And he asked questions back. This shouldn't have felt like such a happy thing, but it did, because suddenly Sheik, for what felt like the first time in almost a year with him around, had his undivided attention. Besides, she'd grown sick of herself wishing, pretending, that _she _was Link's girlfriend, so had stopped talking to him altogether in hopes of getting over him.

The islands of streetlights passed without notice, as she and Link walked and chatted and laughed and speculated about mundane things, until they reached the festival.

The lights of little flames and cheap light-bulbs blanketed in lantern paper filled the space in a strange yet enticing red and blue glow. The Uni green was sprawled with a collection of stalls selling everything from typically Terminian grass hats to beaded accessories to little glass statuettes to food, and further in there was a stage that was now displaying some sort of play that looked both morbid and cheerful, with masks that cried while smiling, and rags of bright green and rusty orange lining the performance.

And in the middle, a respective distance away from the smell of food and the temptations of merchandise, was a man-made river that on both banks had stalls filled with colourfully printed candles, with handles and little paper boats, and from them the scent of flowers and herbs and fruits wafted and sighed in the night. The stalls were all decorated with abundant fairy-lights. It was a little girl's dream incarnate.

Sheik couldn't help but laugh. "You call this 'People paying respect to the dead by floating candles in the Zora River?'"

"Well," Link shrugged almost sheepishly, "They _used_ to do that before the ecologists decided that it counted as trashing. The feeling's still there for people who take it seriously, though."

Sheik smirked at him, teasingly. "If you insist."

They went to the stage and watched the play for a while. It was a story of how a Shadow Guide led a Hero through six temples to repair the Mirror of Twilight after an invasion of evil, which he eventually went through to follow his true love and to gain his final rest. It was a well-known fairytale, and Sheik enjoyed it plenty.

"I feel sorry for the Guide, though," Sheik admitted as they stood and stretched, the actors having already bowed and showered in applause, "After all that time helping the Hero out he gets ditched for a girl that what, popped up in the last three minutes of the play."

When Link didn't reply, Sheik looked into his face, which seemed oddly pensive. "You never know though. I mean, the Guide could've just been a really good friend. Or," he grinned here, "The Guide was a really annoying control-freak that drove the Hero on like a slave until the Mirror was fixed and _that_ drove the Hero into the girl's arms. It did say that the Guide came from the world in the Mirror, right?"

Sheik snorted, glad that his oddly thoughtful expression had just been the result of a start to a silly debate, "If the Guide was such a control-freak then maybe he could've prevented the Hero chasing after his girl."

"Or maybe the Guide _willingly_ let the Hero go because he's the Guide, and as all Guides do, he pointed in the right direction and said, 'Admit it, you have the hots for her, just get on with it and go'."

"To a girl that popped up, I repeat, three minutes before the end?"

"The girl could've been in the background the whole time, you know, giving the Hero boxed lunches and stuff?"

Sheik rolled her eyes. For a debate that they both knew was silly, he had a pretty serious face. "Then _why_ would she stay in the background?"

"Maybe she thought the Guide and the hero were going out?"

Sheik blinked. Then a wry smile curled up her face. "You do realise that you just accused the Hero of all the Realm to be gay, right?"

Link exasperatedly sighed, "They never said that the Guide was male. And that's not the point."

"Then what is the point?" Sheik teased, prodding his chest without shame, "That you're not making any sense?"

"Oh forget it," he muttered gruffly before turning away, "Come on, food, I'm starved."

Sheik followed chuckling, hiding the sudden useless stupid jolt in her chest. She was thinking too deeply into it. He was not sending her some cryptic message. She was being silly.

But that knowledge didn't help. As they ate and talked and browsed through the stalls she couldn't help but give him hopeful glances, her heart fluttering every time their eyes met. She couldn't stop herself quickly looking away, chattering forcefully on about whatever they were talking about, and hoped the heat at her face wasn't outwardly visible. Shame burnt her insides as she longed for her hand to be held. Longed to be Midna, right then and there, so that she could be treated like someone special, not like… an acquaintance.

Sheik lapsed into silence, letting him chat for a while, nodding and humming in response. It would've hurt to speak.

"Sheik? … Sheik!"

The girl jumped. She flushed when she realised Link's face was _right there,_ and she hadn't noticed at all.

His grin made her swoon. "You spaced out on me?"

"Uhm, I I-uh, I'm sorry, it's just I-"

"It's pretty late," he conceded, as he pulled away and gestured at the stall they were standing next to, "Now come on, pick one."

Sheik felt pretty guilty when it was clear that he was offering to buy her something. "I shouldn't, I mean…"

She froze up when she realised what the object of purchase was. Jewellery. Not food, not a key-chain, not one of those tacky grass hats you dare a friend to wear in public, but _jewellery_. A whole stall wall punctured with pairs of ear-piercing, a table lined with necklaces, and racks bedecked with bracelets and rings dazzled her, and she wanted to cry, because she would not be accepting this.

"You…" she swallowed dryly, "I think you should go for the green necklace; it'd look nice on her. Contrasts with her hair."

Link's face was disappointed. "You really weren't listening, were you. I asked you what _you_ want."

A stab of pain hit right in the middle of her chest. "Link, I think your girlfriend takes priority when it comes to giving people shiny things."

Then his expression contorted into one of exasperated despair. "Furore, Sheik, not you too!" he slapped his hands on her shoulders and the girl found herself being glared at, a serious light in Link's eyes as he said, slowly, "Midna is _not_ my girlfriend."

"…Wha?"

His frown escalated to one of frustration and he shook her slightly as he slowly, painstakingly, _made_ her understand, "Your sister and I are _not_ going out. I am single. She is single. We are not dating, not hooking up, nothing. Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?"

Sheik, to give Link credit, _did_ look a little vacant at the news. The words he had spoken sat in her brain, fat and slow and unyielding, and they slowly melted into her conscience, giving themselves meaning, letting her get around the concept that…

_Link wasn't dating Midna_.

"Are… are you sure?"

"I don't even know _why_ people think that!"

"When Midna goes out you're always there."

"But that doesn't mean when _I_ go out she's there,"

"You went to the ball with her."

"Because everybody else didn't want to."

"Ashei was sure that-"

"She was wrong."

"You go to _Tingle's_ with her." Sheik was sure she had him there. That café was a notorious cesspool for cutsie couples.

"I'm stingy!" Link cried out, "That place has the greatest raspberry smoothies and the only way it goes under my budget is take a girl with me, and Midna was the only one who wouldn't have misunderstood!"

"But… but… Midna she's so _pretty _how could you not-"

"Damn it Sheik!" Link seemed ready to slap her senseless, "Midna and I discussed this and there is _no way_ she and I are ever going out. I am, quote, 'her punching bag', and the feeling is mutual. I mean _come on _after a day with your crazy sister I feel like the word PWNED is neon-signed across my forehead! I'm sorry, but my self-esteem will not be able to handle it. Comprende?"

"Oh… okay."

"Right. Alright." He took a deep breath, exhaled, and then gestured at the table and tried to ignore the stall owner who looked highly amused, "Are you going to choose, now?"

"Well, okay, um…" Sheik hastily looked through, and her eye caught a ring made of wires and coloured beads and it looked lovely; she chose that, Link paid, and they scuttled back into the crowd, Sheik hoping the wink the stall-keeper had shot her was just her imagination.

"Thanks," she told him, twirling the ring on her index, "I appreciate it."

"It's fine," he muttered gruffly, shrugging the gratitude away, "It's nothing."

"Not to me," she insisted, and he smiled at her before turning away and guiding her back through the crowds, holding her wrist so that she wouldn't get separated. They browsed through the many shaped lanterns, laughing at the odd ones and ooh-ing (well, there wasn't much of that on Link's side) at the extraordinarily detailed ones, like the lantern shaped like the legendary Volvagia coiling in midair over three black, green, and red spotted eggs.

There were more stalls, and they watched a few more shows, and it was so much easier to enjoy herself because Sheik had nothing to worry about, nothing at all, and there was hope, by gods there was hope, because Link had chosen her over Midna to spend time with, _alone. _

It was past two in the morning. Link walked her home.

He hesitated at the apartment door, wincing as the sensors caught their movement and bathed the place with florescent light, scratching the back of his neck. "So um… sorry for snapping at you."

A laugh burst from her, and she shook a hand in dismissal. "Nah, it's fine. It's funny, in retrospect."

"I'm glad I amuse you," he muttered, rolling his eyes playfully.

"Why don't you come in?" Sheik added, not wanting to let him go, just yet, not when things were going so well. _Screw_ the play-hard-to-get rule. "Mum went out for the weekend, so…?"

"As much as that tempts me," Link sighed, "I have to go. I've got a test in two days."

"… You went out when you have a _test_, if we get into technicalities, _tomorrow_?"

"Well if it wasn't for Midna-"

"Midna?"

He clamped his jaws shut and looked away. "I… I uh, she uh, well, I didn't want to do anything so she suggested I uh, invite you. Not that-well, oh, fuck this,"

He leaned down and pecked her lightly and quaintly on the cheek, and she caught the waxy scent of the festival on him, spicy food and burnt sugar and crushed grass.

She blushed like a tomato as he pulled back, biting his lip, and there was deep regret on his face when he saw her expression. "Well, see ya."

"Um…" he'd already turned, and was quickly walking away, and Sheik had to call quite loudly considering the ungodly time of night they were disturbing. "You want to go watch a movie with me, once your test's over?"

He stopped, looking back, and he looked awfully confused, before a wide grin broke across his face. "That'd be awesome."

"And uh… thanks, for tonight," Sheik added, her fingertips brushing the place his lips had pressed against her skin, "I enjoyed it, really."

"Yeah, me too."

She waved, shyly. "See ya."

"Yeah."

Sheik climbed the stairs in a happy daze, jittered with energy in the elevator, and when she walked through the front door, Midna was sprawled across the couch like a victorious queen, and her grin was wide and feral and delighted. She held a cell-phone aloft.

"_Where_, exactly, did he kiss you?"**

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**I don't have a big sister, but i have two dear friends who have proclaimed themselves my older sisters, and I love them to bits. X3**

**Though an additional Midna type big sister would be so cool... **

**Review? Please?**

Hope you enjoy!

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